In size he was nearly as big as Jim Crow himself, and he had a large crest of feathers on the top of his head that made him look even more fierce—especially when he ruffled them up. His body was purplish blue color on the back and purplish gray below, and there was a collar of black feathers running all around his neck. But his wings and tail were a beautiful rich blue, as delightful in color as the sky on a fine May morning; so in personal appearance Policeman Blue Jay was much handsomer than Jim Crow. But it was the sharp, stout beak that most alarmed the crow, and had Jim been wiser he would have known that before him was the most deadly foe of his race, and that the greatest pleasure a Blue Jay finds in life is to fight with and punish a crow.
POLICEMAN BLUE JAY
But Jim was not very wise; and so he imagined, after his first terror had passed away, that he could bully this bird as he had the others, and make it fear him.
"Well, what are you doing here?" he called out, in his crossest voice, for he was anxious to get away and rob the oriole's nest.
The Blue Jay gave a scornful, chattering laugh as he answered:
"That's none of your business, Jim Crow."
"Take care!" warned the crow; "you'll be sorry if you don't treat me with proper respect."
The Blue Jay winked solemnly, in a way that would have been very comical to any observer other than the angry crow.
"Don't hurt me—please don't!" he said, fluttering on the branch as if greatly frightened. "My mother would feel dreadful bad if anything happened to me."